Watts Branch Flood Control – Washington DC

State:
WASHINGTON-DC

Site Type:
Infrastructure and Utilities, Flood and Erosion Control

New Deal Agencies:
Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA), Civil Works Administration (CWA)

Started:
1933

Completed:
1940

Quality of Information:
Moderate

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

In 1933-34, Civil Works Administration (CWA) relief workers did flood mitigation work on the Watts Branch of the Anacostia River,  “lowering the stream bed in some sections, straightening out bends and clearing away debris to increase the rapidity of the run off of water.” (Work 1936)

Several years later, in 1940, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) returned to the site for additional improvements: “The District WPA has resumed work on the storm water flood elimination project at Watts Branch, near Minnesota Avenue and Hunt place northeast…” (Washington Post, May 10, 1940).

Not all such channelization of the time was wise.  Work is presently underway to restore the natural stream bed and promote habitat recovery.

 

 

Source notes

District of Columbia Works Progress Administration, “Guarding Washington Health,” Work: A Journal of Progress, Vol. 1, No. 1, Sept. 1936, p. 27

“Watts Branch project resumed by WPA,” Washington Post, May 10, 1940, p. 6

Location Info


Minnesota Ave. and Hunt Pl. NE
Washington, DC 20019

Coordinates: 38.9069, -76.9492

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